Global safety science organisation, UL, has announced a joint venture with Dammam’s GCC Electrical Testing Laboratory (GCC Lab) aimed at strengthening awareness, capabilities and certification within the renewable energy segment in Saudi Arabia and across the region.

In the Middle East, UL is based in Dubai and maintains lab facility in Abu Dhabi. The joint venture with GCC Lab will be based in Dammam, alongside the organisation’s existing operation, and will cater to customers as far afield as Egypt.

The joint venture company will delivers services including pre-commissioning tests, project monitoring, and product testing for solar PV modules to ensure their compliance with the standards of the International Electrotechnical Commission.

The partnership will leveraging both party’s resources, knowledge and experience, and respectively, UL’s reputation in safety science on the region, and GCC Lab’s mandate as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative to diversify its economy.

The GCC Lab is a closed joint stock company formed by a select group of governmental and private entities in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region, and has a mandate to provide testing, inspection, and certification services for electrical equipment.

Hamid Syed, GM at UL Middle East, added: “This agreement represents each organisation’s strong commitment to providing customers with all services related to renewables to meet the varied climate of the region.

“We are delighted to support its aggressive renewable targets by offering a complete range of services via the new joint venture company and we are excited about developing new relationships through the extended client base.

“It is a significant step in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and GCC countries vision and will contribute significantly towards localising manufacturing and services, fostering a knowledge-based economy, energy sustainability, and competitiveness, supporting research, enhancing energy efficiency, and promoting alternative energy applications suitable for the climatic conditions in the GCC countries.”